Saban defends rookie snapper

NFL - Dolphins - The Beat

October 11, 2005|By Harvey Fialkov, Miami Bureau

Coach Nick Saban defended rookie long snapper John Denney on Monday like a trial attorney.

Saban said despite two botched snaps in the four games, including one that resulted in a critical fumble Sunday, he refuses to question the Dolphins' decision to cut reliable veteran long snapper Ed Perry (1997-2004) in the preseason.

"We have total faith, trust and confidence in the guy," Saban said.

"Sometimes when you play with young players you have to live with some problems they have while they develop, but we're going to continue to work with the guy and hopefully we can get him consistent enough that these things go away. We're not going to second-guess anything that we did." Saban bristled when a reporter continued to press the decision to release Perry.

"So every guy that we got rid of all of a sudden is the best player that there ever was and never ever made a mistake or had a problem?" Saban said. "Who is to say that if [Perry] was doing it, maybe something else would happen? I don't know."

Hadnot's mistakes

RG Rex Hadnot made two more false starts Sunday, giving him a team-leading six penalties for 29 yards.

"That's the problem. [The coaches] are just not happy, and me personally, I've had five in four games and that's not acceptable," Hadnot said.

"Trying to be the type of player I want to be, it's mind-boggling. It's really confusing to me, but I know it's my problem."

Saban said the players don't jump offside or make false starts in practice and he will handle the issue "internally to try to correct."

CB Travis Daniels said he thought that Saban might bring loudspeakers onto the practice field to help the players learn to deal better with crowd noise.

Injuries

LB Junior Seau, who had been nursing a calf injury, had six tackles against the Bills but is experiencing general soreness and is "day to day."